THE RABBIT NUISANCE.

Otago Witness, Issue 1605, 26 August 1882, Page 13

THE RA BBIT NUISANCE.

TO TEE EDITOR.

Sir,— As the proposal of the Govenmwrf to introduce the natural enemies to resist the encroachments of the rabbit has uiven rise to a considerable amount newspaper controversy, a few words on the various' means of extirpation either in use or proposed from a practical rabbitter may not be altogether barren of interest or profit. , T „ Aud first, as to the natural enemies, I may state that a considerable experiencv of game-preserving at Home makes rrje much less sanguine than some appoar to be That none of tb<} mustelidae will touch fur if thoy can get feather, Is almost an axiom with English preservers, and my o/n observations lead me to the belief the opinion is w-01l foundod. Before theEe new allies commence to tackle bunny, the weka and other native ground-birds and all the imported game will be destroyed. Then, to protect them, trapping and dogging must bo done away v ith— it is doubtful whether oven poisoning fan be safely carried on,— and by tho time they have increased sufficiently to make their power felt bunny would h'-ve fairly eaten out his deadly enemies of the human race. 1 do-not speak of the dangers to domestic fowls and animals Irexn these bloodthirsty vermin -the polec»twill tackle & lamb when hard pushed,— because thoauthorities must have taken tlut risk iv q considsralion before initiat-

SSSi^bSt * SSHSS caru a,,d caution will be SSe'd beforo any wholesale importation is atte The te m6ans we have at present of controlling the t>est are, I believe, efficient to reduce it to managep wo limits if applied in a systematic and rational manS To Numerate thoViuciples, they arenatnral enemies, poisoning, dogging, trapping, shootinland destruction in the burrows, I propose briefly to allude to these. 1 Natural Enemies.— ln the welta, swampOiarner, sparrow-hawk, Hanoverian rat, and domestic cat wo have half a dozen enemies quite equal to any we can imoort The weka ia specially valuable, and from personal observation, I believe, if protected and encourceed almost aUe to keep down the spread of the rabbits. The hawks destroy a large number, especially of the young.'and they also deberve protection. The brown rat i* a creature of such boundless voracity that it ia no Wonder H.mie watreners regard it as their deadliest enemy. This summer I counted tlio remains of 44 young rabbits and eight laige ones, beside one n«(jt. These animals abound from the sea coast to the snow line, and certainly require no protection. ' The domestic cat is too well known to need remark; unfortunatoly-the use of poison bas thinned' their.rankß mo3t woefully. 2. PoUonin/.— This is unquestionably the remedy, the mainstay to which all others should be made subsidiary. When Messrs 'Bayley and Bozos introduced phosphorised grain they c nfcrred a most valuable service 'on tho Colony, and it is a pity tho bogus notoriety of Captain Raymond, who discovered nothing and did nothing but blow, to an extent beyond even the Colonial average, should have prevented a due recognition of their services. The worst objection to the use of poisoned grain is the danger to 'stock, and this I believe to be greater than is generally acknowle 'ged. How else has the stock on one of the finest runs of Otaj?o diminished from 150,000 to little over 80,000 in a few years? especially as on the fun referred to poisoninsr has been the only remedy applied, and that on a colossal scale. Further, this remedy will not reduce the rabbits below a certain limit, as tho. agonised yells of tbose suffering from the pangs inflicted by phosphorus drives away the healthy rabbif, and the ground is only apparently cleared. It is also too expensive when onco the rabbit* are thinned and scattered, and the d-ngcr of killing sheep and cattle is greatly enhanced by the number of baits left untouched ; while to cover these would, on anything like rough country, be a most' costly and indeed impossible undertaking Still, with all these drawbacks, no menns of destroying rabbits in large numbers are equal to i his, and it should be always employei on the portions of country whoro they are most numerous, and where the climate— as on the very Imh country where successive falls of snow are aut to bury the grain before it is eaten -does not forbid. Ik "is, however, a remedy chiefly applicable in the winter time. The breeding season, when most destruction can be achieved at a^ limited expense, requires other moans. 2nd. These means are to a great extent supplied by Ihe use of well-trained packs of dojya under the care of mea who understand how to handle them. % I am aware th*t a strong prejudice exists against the use of dogs, but this niiscis wholly from the utter careltßsness displayed in former years in selecting both men and aniirials, and the enormous packs, far too large for any man to control, which were permitted on several properties. In no case should a pack exceed 10 cou&e, ami few conscientious men would care to tackle so many unless every dog had been broken by themselves. This is a state of things difficult to attain as ihe unfortunate rabbiter may have to destroy his pack at a moment's notice, because tho pro-perty-holder has taken some ciaze as to the use of new fangled and less-efficient methods. On one property alone 8000 doga wer& destroj ed when ph.sphorus was supposed' to be a panacea, and the owners lost all their care and trouble in rearing and training, besides the value of their packs, ranging from £20 to £100, without compensation or sympathy. No«, when it is generally admitted that dopts are necessary to keep down the rabbits thinner by judicious phoning, it is hard to'obtain really trustworthy animals, while the unfortunate tendency to encourage cheap men leacis to a lot of fe'lows who know nothing about thn handling, breaking, or treatment of dos>s bfiug employed. To this class we owe the nucleus of a race of wild dogs, for in every ease I have heard of the evil can be traced to the jrros3 ignorance and grosser carclessnebs of the %d. 1 rapping on suitable ground ranks with dogging as a summer remedy and is specially valuablo in small enclosures, where dogs cannot very well be ewked. Hero, too, it is very necessary that ihorouehly-skilled labour should be employed, a* a good trapper is not to be manufactured out of the raw material sent up from a labour office in one, or even two, heasons. The work, too, is very hard, and the ' hours long, and neither of thesu conditions suit tho townsman. My own experience is that by far thu best ' system where there are no sheep a.bouG is to trap in sections. Snares may also be advantageously used in runs through fence 3 and hedge-rows. 4th, Shooting is ft most useful help wheie tho nature of the ground forbids the emplojmentof other remedies. By using half charge* a good shot will hive to expend close on three-farthings for every rabbit eloin. It is therefore the most expensive of all the methods at present in use. fifch. Destruction in the burrows includes all the various methods of suffocating bunny at horn* 1 . Bisulphide of carbon, where the ground is dense enough, te the most easily applied at.d efficacious I Jiave seen used. Most of the exterminate s are too ponderous, and so much time is wasted in plugging up, &c, that it would be a good deal simpler to dig out the tabbitatonce. Mr Foray th, a gentleman well known, I believe, in Tokomairiro and Jnvercargill, is said to have invented another means of suffocation not liable to these objections. I sincerely trust his invention may prove a success. The chief drawback to those various modeß is that they are not only expensive, but yield ho return. Tho skins, which under any other plan recoup wholly of in part the outlay, are entirely gopt, or only to he recovered by going to labour which would effect the'eame end without using the chemical agent One of tho chief reasons why all ,the efforts already mode to check the plague have to a certain extent iftiled bas been .the wont of simultaneous and organised action. Individually, there are very lew landowners or lessees who have not done tbeir best to clear their own holdings, but unfortuoofcely their efforts have been made without system and »t different times. Aa a consequence the cleared ffrouud was rapidly overrun from neighbouring properties, and the Sisyphean toil had to be again repeated. To. remedy this the various inspectors should be given extensive powers of organisation and direction, and the waste of time caused by personal gervice of notices replaced by tho use of postal cards. Further, a provision similar to that of the fencing law when a boundary has to bo ejrectsd shou'd enable ad loinim? proprietors 1o feive notice on one another to destroy rabbits, and give right of access and posver to recover expenses and damages m the simplest, easiest, and least' expensive method known to law *hen such notices were neglected. I have already said that phosphorus poisoning isfl «ae«nost potent weapon at, our command, in spite of fits danger and expense. Every effort s».ould be made to arxlve at the most approved modes of manipulation, and a fair trial given to every suggested improvement. For instance, I have found a eliuht sprinkling of salt makes the baits more readily devoured in places where tho soil is devoid of that fttticle ; and that by dusting the grain with a little flour before adding tho phosphorus a coating of starch «r gluten is given to the particles of poison, which .not only makes it retain its power for a longer time, (but also by preventing the oxidation sequent to exmosure to the atmospher.', prevents it becomirg nauleouß to the intended victims. Many similar practical hints might be gathered from those who earn a living by the fur trade. But the weak spot in our onsHught on tho rabbits is the neglect during tho breeding season. As long as no strenuous etfort wmade io destroy the young and breeding rabbits all our labour will be but the toil of the Darialde?. The run 1 know freest of rab. bits is one where thd same price was Riven all row ; d from the minutest sucker to the full-grown rabbit. And here Government assistance might fairly be Uiven in the form of a bonus, m there fa » heavy loss to paying thus for pups and sucker*. The old rabbits mr«fcty well clear expenses, and may be left to private Sort I; but the youngsters, if not paid for, will cerftainly not be killed to any considerable extent. A {bonus «ii a penny would not amount to any very Jheavy ewa, and if supplemented by property-owners would make the destruction of nests and capture of babies a very popular pursuit. . And while speaking of a bonus, I may as well point out the very unfair position occupied by Crown lessees. Tfeese persons have only a limited and uncertain, tenure, of theUr land, yet they are taxed and treated in exactly the same way as freeholders. This is manifestly unjust, and they are clearly entitled to some rebate. lam aware that it i« a highly unpopu-

lar thing for any one to say a word in behalf of the 1 bloated ' runholder, but after all, aie they not men and * brethren? Further: as a class their efforts to combat the rabbit nuisance have been beyond praise ; and I suspect, were the various inspectors interviewed, it would be found that not from them, but from the small freeholders, they encountered obstruction and evasion. „ . , I have spoken of the value of small and well-trained packß of dogs, and also of the little encouragemont given to tho.-o competent to breed and train such. Here the machinery of the rabbit department might be utilised by the various inspectors finding out and registering the names of those within the district possessed of such and able to use them without detriment or danger to stock. They might see that redly o-ood men ware never without employment, and that so efficient a weapon as a well-trained pack was never thrown away or suffered to be idle. Similarly, they might register all those whom they observed to be skilful trappers ; and us such local register could be forwarded to the head office, the skilled labour required in any particular district could be at once secured. . . fivery one I have beard express an opinion has spoken in high praise of the personnel of tne present rabbit department ; but it is evident the districts are too laree to be efficiently worked by a single man, however willing or energetic he may be. An immediate increase should be made, sufficient to ensure the constant personal supervision of the inspector over the attempts b ing made within his distnot to destroy vermio. It is better, and in the long run cheaper, to have an expensive department fora j eater two, than to have a half-starved o> c entailed on us in perpetuity. To summarise, the points on which I wish to insist are :— Ist. Protection of natural enemies, such as weka?, hawks, and cata. 2nd. A bonus on 3 oung rabbits. Srd. Registration by inspector, from his own knowledge or from information derived from employers, of efficient packs and trappers. 4th. Compulsory simultaneous action, and a cheap and efficient means of recovering damages m case of neglect. ' , , sth. Increase of the number of inspectors, and augmented powers. And 6th. Sale at Government depot? of all implements used in destroying rabbits, at bare cost, with expenses added. Implements to include, besides poisou, &c, traps, snaring wire, powder shot, caps, guvs, &c, &c. And to bring this long effusion to an end, I wish to point out that rabbiters, take them right through, have a romarkably high average of education and intelligence. The independence of the life attracts all those who are impatient of ' bossing 'and averse to the degradation of the counter. Among such men there must be many men more qualified to advise than I am ; and I believe, when they are encouraged, to come forward with the results of their experience, either through the Press or directly to the rabbit department, many important and .valuable suggestions will be made and efficient aid given m destroying a pest that no thinking man can iegard otherwise than as a curse to the country.— l am, &c. lIAUBriER. July 27th. 10 ME EDITOR. Sir,— ln the Witness of August 12th I noticed a letter siuned "Sportsman," whote experience of the rabbit difficulty so exactly coincides with my own that I beg to Bay a few words in support of his statemeats. It is from men such as " Sportsman"-sWho have tried different methods of keeping the pest under, and who have for years suffered heavy loss from this cause— that we can Itarn what is likely to be effectual in keeping tho rodents in check. "Sportsman" says "that poisoned grain is of little or no use where the pasture is flb lor grazing stock." I can vouch for the correctness of the statement. ' During this winter 1 have on two different occasions laid phosphorised oats in English grass paddocks where the rabbits were pretty thick, without any success whatever. The last lot I laid contained oil of rhodium, but that seemed to rmke no difference. In places whefe the poison had b«en scattered thu bunnies were so numerous that tho grain was actually trodden into the soft earth where they had been scampering about, distaining even to taste. Both lass winter and thin my turnip-fields suffered very much from the rabbits. In some parts, adjoining whin fences and under-runnera, they consumed the turnips as regularly as a r flock of sheep. I tried to thin them out with phosphorised wheat and oats laid successively three times, but with no good result. On this occasion oil of rhodium was also used in one lot of poison. Some persons who believe phosphorous effectual in every situation may say I had very few labbits on the ground, or else the poison would have done its work. Woll, in the same paddocks where the phosphorised grain failud to do any execution, a man and boy with spades and dogs in six hours took 80 rabbit", a convincing proof that the pests were numerous enough. I am satisfied it is only a waste of money and time laying poisoned grain in any place except where the feed ia scanty and bare. To be destructive, the pasture must be in such a state that stock would /starve on it, a;id even then the suppression of the pest would only be temporary ; in Bix montha they would be as abundant as formerly. In proof of this I may mention that last seasen I poisoned a paddock where the' rabliis had become very plentiful— to such an extent, j indeed, that they had eaten every jfreen thing to bB seen. Here the poison, seemed to make a total clearance ; for weeks I scarcely saw a live labbit. They toon, however, began to appear in twos .and thrtes, and gradually increased in numbers, till in January they became bo numerous that the stock had to be re moved, the grass, which for three months had been excellent, having completely disappeared, and this winter the paddock is exactly in the same condition as last wistev-viz., swarming with bunnies, who have not left a green blade. Where, may 1 ask, is our regular supply of fat meat for the London market to come from if we cannot keep the rabbits under 1 It is not tho runs of natural pasture, but our English grass paddocks and turnipfields that muat produce the supply for the refrigerating companies ; and" it is Just in these situations that the rabbits cannot be dealt with by poison. I believe that thi» winter the rabbit? have been reduced in numbers as low as they erer will be by poison.- There b a certain minimum to which they can be reduced That we have now reached, and we will never get below it unlesß Borne other means be adopted. The only romedy in my opinion is at once to introduce the much-abused weasel and stoat, and any other of the natural enemies o( the rabbit which arc not considered dangtrouß to young lambs. We have been favoured lately in your columns with seveial lengthy letters against the introduction . of the weasel, stoat,, &c. From these effusions I learn that the " vermin " will prove a greater nuisance than the rabbits. It seems to me that the writers of these letters are mere theorists, whose.opinions have been formed not from actual experience, but mostly from reading and heareaj'. Had they suffered from the rabbits to the extent many of us have dove, they would advocate 'the introduction of anything that would keep them under. The principal plea they put forward— viz., that the imported game would soon be exterminated by/the importation of the "vermin"— is a futile one indeed, as the game will have disappeared (thanks to phosphorised grain) long ere the wea els and pdecats can arrive in the country. For example, in this locality four years ago pheasants and partridges were plentiful ; the birds of both kinds were to be seen daily, and on fine spring mornings the crowing of the pheasants resounded on every side. How have they increased since? We ought to see them now by hundreds. This season I have not seen a 6in*le partridge, and only a couple of pheasants. In another year the imported game will be extioct in this district. - I think it is tiie duty of the Government to take immediate step} to pfocure a suf>ply ,of wcasols, stoats, polecats, &c, from the Old Country. Anyone who has experienced the evils of the rabbit pest can have only one opinion about this matter. I am afraid, however, there is not much chanco of the Government being persuaded to take steps in this direction just now, and no t me should be lost to get something done. ' I pm so convinced that our only safety from the rabbit scourge lug in the direct importation of their natural enemies, that if 200 farmers and jrrazitrs can be found in Otago to mbsenbe £6 each, I shall with plea?ure make one of their number. The sum thus raised would bo sufficient to secure an importation of weaeels and stoats that would stock the country In a few years.— l am, &c.,

Grazier.

August 22nd.